Organizing is hard work, just ask Local 776 Organizer Mark Cicak. You have to play by a set of rules that are stacked in the employer’s favor, who tries every trick in the book to derail the organizing drive, while their Union busting attorney is making sure you are letter perfect. Below is an article on how widespread employer violations of federal labor are in Union organizing campaigns.

A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board has ruled there is merit to claims Boeing Co. illegally fired five workers who support the International Association of Machinists union at the aerospace giant’s 787 Dreamliner campus in North Charleston. The ruling gives the IAM a preliminary win in its ongoing battle with Boeing over establishing a union presence in South Carolina-a right-to-work state with the nation’s lowest percentage of union workers. The charges will now be heard by an administrative law judge. The IAM is expected to file an injunction calling for the workers’ immediate return to their jobs while the case is pending. Boeing should “immediately reinstate our members, sit down now to negotiate a contract with its flight-line employees ... and get back to the business of working with the IAM and our members to build aircraft,” said Robert Martinez, the union’s national president. While Boeing has gained headlines recently for its union-busing campaign, a new report shows that the company is far from being alone: employers are charged in almost half of all union election campaigns. The report from the Economic Policy Institute summarizes its findings:

“Employers were charged with violating federal law in 41.5% of all NLRB-supervised union elections in 2016 and 2017, with at least one ULP charge filed in each case.

Firings: Under the most conservative measures, employers were charged with illegally firing workers in one-fifth (19.9%) of all elections. Using more comprehensive measures, employers were charged with illegally firing workers in nearly a third (29.6%) of all NLRB-supervised elections.

Coercion, threats, retaliation: In nearly a third (29.2%) of all elections, employers were charged with illegally coercing, threatening, or retaliating against workers for supporting a union.

Discipline, firings, and changes in work terms:  In nearly a third (29.3%) of all elections, employers were charged with illegally disciplining workers for supporting a union.

Employers were more likely to be charged with violating the law where there were larger bargaining units: More than half (54.4%) of employers in elections involving more than 60 employees (roughly 25% of elections) were charged with violating federal law.”